New Level of Witch Hunt: Relatives are Targeted in Turkey


Date posted: August 18, 2016

Dudu Cakir
86-year-old mother

On July 26, Turkish police stormed the house of Muhammet Cakir, a lawyer wanted for arrest on coup charges. Failing to find the lawyer at home, they detained his 86-year-old mother to force her son to surrender. She has been kept as hostage since.

Bulent Korucu
Editor-in-Chief, Yarina Bakis

Bulent was the editor-in-chief ot Yarina Bakis daily until Turkish government shut it down in the post-coup crackdown. Now, he is wanted for arrest. On July 30, Turkish authorities detained his wife, Hacer Korucu, as a hostage until her husband surrenders. After 10 days in detention, Hacer has been arrested on August 9.

Gendarmerie searches house of Hakan Sukur
Former MP and Turkish Football Star

Gendarmerie forces have searched the house of former Turkish international footballer and former MP Hakan Şükür in the Kandıra district of the northwestern province of Kocaeli, as a part of investigations into the failed July 15 coup attempt.

A detention warrant has been issued for Şükür, who is accused of being a member of the faith-based Gülen Movement. The government accuses the movement of masterminding the coup attempt although the movement denies any involvement.

Hakan Sukur’s father Selmet Sukur has been taken into police custody on August 12 and still detained in custody.

The search was carried out as a part of the probe launched by the Sakarya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office over the failed takeover bid, Doğan News Agency reported on Aug. 16.

Earlier, police arrested the father of Şükür as it failed to reach the former star.

Şükür played for Istanbul side Galatasaray and was capped 112 times for the Turkish national team. He also had stints abroad for Inter Milan, Parma and Blackburn Rovers.

Source: Social Port , Aug 17, 2016

Tags: | | | | | |


Related News

Hate speech and its impact on the movement (1)

It amounts to the otherization of a social group, cowing it into submission. It is a weapon used by the powerful to destroy the “others.” Hate speech is particularly dangerous when employed by those who exercise public authority as it leads to official discrimination. In a democratic country, it is one of the state’s basic duties to prevent the use of hate speech.

Corruption probe [in Turkey]

Radikal’s Cüneyt Özdemir said that even if some people interpret the corruption operation as a manifestation of the rift between the Hizmet movement and the government, it does not reduce the importance and seriousness of the allegations directed against the detainees. “The fact that it involves the general manager of a state-run bank and the sons of three ministers shows us the importance of this investigation,” he said.

‘Humiliating people not allowed in Islam’

A man identified as Mustafa Petek asked the Religious Affairs Directorate on March 24 if Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the Hizmet movement, deserves to be a target of hate speech by state officials. The Religious Affairs Directorate, in response to the man’s query on hate speech, said, “In Islam, no one is allowed to humiliate a person or refer to him using adjectives that don’t represent him.”

Pakistan Today Editorial: The Turkish connection and Turkish schools

Surely nobody at the joint session really believed Mr Erdogan’s warning about the threat the so called Gullen Network presents Pakistan. No doubt the Turkish president really believes the Network – which ran schools here till just before his visit – is just as dangerous for Pakistan as al Qaeda, etc.

Guest post: Turkey and the problem of political continuity

Erdogan has not only replaced thousands of suspected Gulenists in the police force and the judiciary. He has also sought, with mixed results, to make the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors directly accountable to the government.

Another dismissed gov’t employee abducted in black van in Turkey’s capital: wife

Yet another post-coup victim was forced into a black van in broad daylight in Turkey’s capital province of Ankara, according to a family member.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Reception for ‘Time in Turkey’ held in New York

Istanbul court blocks access to Gülen’s website

Turkish police to detain another woman immediately after delivery

Esposito urges Muslims to integrate better to defeat Islamophobia

Winds of friendship were enjoyed in different parts of Turkey during the month of Muharram

Gülen’s lawyer warns about possible doctored tapes

Turkey detainees tortured, raped after failed coup, rights group says

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News